Bowling pin assembly mechanism



Sept. 23, 1958 G. A. MONTOOTH ETAL 2,

BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM Original Filed March 26, 1946 6 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR GEage f7. Manfoai A1 flljefi I 2 Bowerz/ Sept. 23, 1958 G. A. MONTOOTH ET AL 2,853,300

BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed March 26, 1946 llllllll m Mr Sept. 23, 1958 G. MONTOOTH EI'AL BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM Original Filed March 26, 1946 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 P 23, 1958 G; A. MONTOOTH ETAL 2,853,300

' BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM Original Filed March 26, 1946 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TORS Georg I9. Mon foo fileri I. bawerz/ Sept. 23, 1958 s. A. MONTOOTH ETAL 2,853,300

, BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM Original. Filed March 26, 1946 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 .INVENTORS Kenya 1)- M71220 5/},

Sept. 23, 1958 G; A. MONTOOTH ET AL 2,853,300

BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM Original Filed March 26, 1946 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 ZZZ INVENTORS Gear efl/Wonioaik/ I flleri flZ Bowerv A TTOE/VEVS United States Patent BOWLING PIN ASSEMBLY MECHANISM George A. Mpntooth and Albert M. Bowen, Long Beach, Callf., assrgnors to The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a corporation of Delaware Original application March 26, 1946, Serial No. 657,238, now Patent No. 2,697,605, dated December 21, 1954.

Divided and this application December 10,1954, Se-

rial N0. 474,37 4

6 Claims. (Cl. 273-43) This invention relates to bowling pin distributing mechanism and, more particularly, to a pin turret or magazine for assembling and .holding bowling pins in a predetermined arrangement prior to their discharge for subsequent setting on an alley bed.

This application is a division of our application,

Serial No. 657,238, filed March 26, 1946, now Patent No.

2,697,605, which issued December 21, 1954, entitled wherein the magazine has variably-spaced pin receiving buckets and detent means are provided for stopping the magazine to complete each indexing movement, said detent means being released by entry of a pin into a bucket to permit further indexing of the magazine.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a pinsetter having means for transporting pins to an ele vated point, means for directing pins from the elevated point to a magazine which comprises a plurality of pin receiving buckets arranged about a common center, means 2,8533% I Patented Sept. 23, 1958 "ice Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a pinsetting mechanism showing the claimed mechanism and its relamounting some of the buckets for outward pivotal move I ment so as to have the pins move into a triangular arrangement when dropped, means for yieldably driving the magazine and pin-operated means responsive to the entry of a pin into a bucket to permit indexing turret by the yieldable power means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pins froma pin conveyor and storing said pins in a pinsetter having a pin-receiving mechanism for receiving predetermined arrangement which comprises an indexable turret, a plurality of pin-receiving buckets on the" turret arranged so as to require difierent increments of I rotation of the turret to place succeeding buckets adja cent the discharge end of the conveyor, and means for indexing the turret by difierent increments including a plurality of engageable means disposed about the periphery of the turret, there being one associated with each bucket, means pivotally mounted on the machine framework engageable with each of said engageable means sequentially as the'turret is indexed to hold the of a pin into a bucket to normally release the pivotally of the mounted means from engagement with one of said engageable means and permit indexing of the turret.

The objects of the invention generally set forth, to-

gether with other ancillary advantages, are attained by the construction and arrangement shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, in which:

tionship to the other parts of a pinsetting mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a plan sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an venlarged vertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the pin magazine or turret and pin tray in associated relation;

Fig. -5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the machine componentsshown in Fig. 4; i

Fig. 6 is a plan sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; a i

Fig. 7 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the parts shown in the upper portion of Fig. 5; a

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side view, partly in section, of a tiltable pin handling tube in the magazine shown in Fig. 5; p i

Fig. 9 is a similar front view thereof;

Fig. 10 is a broken plan sectional view as taken on line 10-10 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of latching means employed in the magazine;

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary sectional and detailed side view thereof;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary front view of a portion of While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is' shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an illustrative embodiment of'the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the inventionand is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated.

The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The alley and its pin-spotting deck 101 are conventional, the alley terminating in a pit 103 providedwith a back stop 104 for receiving the impact of the ball and any pins which may be propelled against it. The pit 103 is provided with means 105 for-lifting a ball from a low point in the pit to an elevated, point from which it complementof ten pins, discharges them into a pin spotting tray 111 therebeneath. Said tray is movable to a position over the deck 101 forextraction of the pins therefrom by a pin setting rack 112. The rack not only serves to receive a full complement of pins from the tray 111 and deposit them in proper spotted position on the deck 101, but also serves to engage and lift any pins left standing after a ball has been rolled so that saiddeck can be swept clear of fallen pins. The rack re-deposits such pins in the same positions from which 5 they have been lifted subsequent to clearing of the deck so that they are ready for the second ball to be rolled. The mechanism further includes a guard 113 which has a normal elevated position and is moved to a position across the alley in. front of the deck during the period of operation of the mechanism to protect the same against injury by a prematurely'rolled ball. A

squeegee or deck clearing device 114 moves vertically with the guard and also moves rearwardly to sweep the deck of fallen pins after the pin setting rack has lifted standing pins. There is also provided a pin deck cover 115 suitably elevated with respect tothe deck 101 to give ample pin clearance. Said cover 115 is normally closed to protect the rack 112-and other mechanism from injury by flying pins but opens synchronously with the downward movement of the guard113 so that the rack 112 may move vertically through. the resultifng opening. a V

The mechanism also provides means 116 for receiving a ball from the lift 105' for return thereof to the bowler. The particular means 116 shown contemplates mechanism which serves adjacent alleys.

Ball lift 105 The ball lift 105 shown best in Figs. 1 and 3 comprises a pair of side brackets 120 mounted for vertical movement on tracks 121 by means of-belts 122 trained on pulleys 123 mounted on shaft 124 which may be driven from a cylinder 129 through suitable connections. The brackets 120 support a pair of spaced rollers 125 which are arranged transversely in the pit and at a slight angle from side to side as shown in Fig. 3. A ball leaving the deck 101 will strike back stop 104 and'will fall on either of the sloping walls 126 to be guided therebyto fall on said rollers. Pins falling into the pit will be similarly guided. However, the spacing of the rollers 125 is such that they will support a ball but allow pins to fall between them. Since some of the pins may assume a transverse position across the rollers, one or both may be caused to rotate as they are elevated from the full line position to the broken line position shown in Figs. 1 and 3 to dislodge such transverse pins and induce them to fall between the rollers. As the rollers are raised, the ball naturally rolls to the low side from where it is received by the ball delivery mechanism 116.

Mechanism 107 for moving the pins in the pit Figs. 1 and 3 best show this component. Beneath the rollers 125 there is. provided a belt conveyor 161 arranged transversely between walls 162 to move pins falling thereon fromone side of the pit toward a second belt conveyor 163-which operates to move the pins toward the rear of the pit. The conveyors have a generally L-shapedarrangernent to receive the pins and move them toward' the lift conveyor 108 which is placed at one side of the pit as seen in Fig. 3. The conveyors operate continuously during the operation of the ma- Pin liftconveyor 108 Figs. 1, 2, and 3 best show this component of the machine. The conveyor comprises a vertical back wall 168 arranged between upper extensions 170 of the walls 164, a pair of sprocket chains 171 disposed on the outer sides of said extensions, sprockets 172 about which the chains are trained, and the mentioned shelves 169 carried in spaced relation by said chains so that they move continuously during the operation of the machine. The wall is provided with an upper somewhat set back extension 173 so that if a pin remains on a shelf until the set back wall is reached, it will then have room to center itself on the shelf for transfer to the upper end of the pin lift.

Bars 174 connect the chains and their ends move, in

slots 176 formed in the walls 170. Each bar 174 has a shelf 169. Means are provided for centering a pin on its shelf and simply comprise spring fingers on each wall 170 designed to slide a pin to a central position on its shelf.

The conveyor moves so that the shelves travel upwardly at the front of the Walls 168 and 173. The upper sprockets 172 are mounted on a shaft 177 on which is fixed a paddle 178. The rotation of the paddle is arranged to synchronize with the movement of the shelves to cause said paddle to dislodge a pin as a shelf bearing it moves by. Inasmuch as the paddle will engage the thick part or butt of the pin, the latter will be pushed off its shelf butt first to fall into the pin chute 109.

Pin chute 109 Pin magazine or turret 110 The pin magazine or turret comprises a frame formed of a top circular disc 181 and a somewhat similar bottom disc 182 connected by a spacing tube 183. This frame, by means of antifriction bearings 184, is mounted for rotation on a vertical shaft 185 fixedly supported between a bracket 186 on the framing of the machine and a semi-circular domed bracket 187 mounted on a horizontal frame 188 carried by the framing of the machine. A third circular disc 189 is disposed between the disc 182 and frame 188 and is mounted for rotation von shaft 185 by antifriction bearings 190. The upper of said bearings is carried by a sleeve 191 extending through the lower of the bearings 184.

In circular arrangement between the discs 181 and 182 there is provided ten tubes or buckets of a size to receive and accommodate a bowling pin. Six of these tubes 192 have a respective arrangement corresponding to the two, three, four, six, eight and nine spots of a set of pins on an alley deck. These tubes are fixed between discs 181 and 182. The other four tubes 193, 194, 195 and 196 are each arranged to swing on a pivot 197 in the disc 181 so that they can be directed toward the one, seven, ten and five spots, respectively. Registering openings are provided in the discs 181 and 182 so that pins from the chute 109 may fall successively into the tubes 192 to 196, inclusive, and come to rest upon disc 189. Accordingly, there is provided means for intermittently rotating the magazine frame as a pin enters a tube. The three forward tubes 192 and 193 are spaced apart from the remaining tubes a distance greater than the spacing between tubes so that the rotation or indexing movement of the turret will vary.

The power means for rotating or indexing the magazine is provided by a clock spring 198 having its outer convolution secured to a spring case 199 rigidly secured to disc 181 and its inner convolution to a spring winding disc 200 rotatable on the shaft 185. The winding disc carries a dog 201 associated with a ratchet 202 fixed on the shaft 185. Above the ratchet, a winding pulley 203 is mounted for rotation on said shaft and a smaller clock spring 204 has its outer convolution fixed to the pulley and the inner convolution fixed to the shaft. The underside of the winding pulley 203, not shown in Fig. 7, carries a dog 205 associated with a stop 206 on the winding disc 200.

As the winding pulley is rotated by movement of a cable 207, the dog 205 engages a stop 206 to drive the winding disc 200 and store energy in the spring 198. At the end of the winding movement of disc 200, its dog 201 will engage a notch in ratchet 202 to hold the spring 198 from unwinding as the pulley 203 rotates reversely under power of spring 204. Upon release of the pin magazine by a pin dropping thereinto, the spring 198 will cause the magazine to rotate until stopped.

The magazine is held latched by a catch indicated generally at 208 which is carried by frame 188 and embodies pin engageable means in the form of a trip paddle 209 located to be depressed by a pin as it falls into one of tubes 192 to 196, inclusive, which is in register therewith. The paddle is carried by a catch bar 210 pivoted at 211 (Fig. 2) to allow the paddle to be depressed and the paddle is yieldingly held in an upper position by spring 211a (Fig. 5). Upon depression of the paddle, the entire catch bar 210 is depressed to cause a block 212 on the catch bar to be moved out of engagement with a stop lug 213a on disc 182. One of these stop lugs 213a is associated with each pin tube and is variably spaced in the same manner as the tubes 192 to 196. Upon release of the catch bar by a falling pin, the spring 198 becomes eifective to rotate the pin magazine so that the next succeeding tube is registered with the paddle 209. The catch 208 has a finger 212a pivoted thereon and urged counter-clockwise to a position behind the lug 213a by a spring 212b in order to prevent inadvertent reverse movement of the magazine. A lug 212d on the catch bar is spaced from the block 212 and of a lesser height than the block 212 so that a lug 213a may freely pass thereover when the magazine rotates. The lug 212d limits counter-clockwise movement of the finger 212a. The block 212 is yieldingly held in position by the spring 212s which is sufiiciently strong to prevent unintentional movement of the block 212 but yields when the lug 213a hits the block 212.

The catch 208 functions to permit movement of the magazine step-by-step in order to receive pins one-by-one from the chute 109. Each time that a pin enters into one of the tubes 192196, the paddle 209 is momentarily depressed by the pin to lower the parts 212-212d and thus free the magazine for rotation by the spring 198 until the next lug 213a engages with the block 212 which has been raised to blocking position by the spring 211a. The last referred to lug 213a prior to engagement with the block 212 will engage the finger 212a and cause it to pivot in a clockwise direction against the action of spring 21%. As the lug 213a moves beyond the finger 212a, the finger will snap in behind the lug 213a.

The disc 189 is provided with openings 213 which are normally out of register with the tubes 192 to 196 so that pins in said tubes are supported by said disc 189. The discs 182 and 189 are normally latched to move together as pins are dropped into the pin tubes. This latching means, which is best seen in Figs. 11 and 12, comprises a latch lever 214 carried by a bracket 215 on the upper side of disc 189 and block 216 on the under side of the disc 182. A spring 217 normally holds the latch lever engaged with the block so that rotation of the pin magazine is imparted to the disc 189. The latch lever is further provided with a downreaching finger 218 which is in the path of movement of a trip member 219 which is located to engage the finger when the last or tenth pin is dropped into the magazine. The member 219, through engagement with finger 218, holds the disc 189 until said memher is withdrawn. The disc 189 will thus be held from further rotation while the spring 198 is effective to continue rotation of the magazine, and the fixed tubes 192 are aligned with the openings 213 so that pins in said tubes can fall through said openings into aligned pin receiving cans 220 carried by the pin spotting tray 111.

The above described relative motion of the magazine and disc 189 also causes tilting of tubes 193 to 196, inclusive. As seen in Figs. 8 and 9, each of said tubes, except tube 196, is provided with an arm 221 near its top end. A link 222 is connected between said arm and a pair of toggle links 223, one of which is connected to a bracket 224 on disc 182 and the other to a bracket 225 and 189 causes the bracket 224 to move away from the bracket 225 resulting in a spreading of the toggle links 7 223, a downward pull on link 222 and a consequent tilting of the pin tubes on their pivots 197. A simple link connection 227 between tubes 193 and 196 is provided and the tiltable tubes are so arranged as to direct pins into cans in the pin tray which correspond to the one, five, seven and ten spots of a set of bowling pins in position.

When the disc 189 is stopped by trip 219 and the disc 182 continues to rotate to effect dropping of the pins into the spotting tray 111, the five pin, i. e., the pin which was held in tube 196, falls through an opening 228 in disc 189. A trip lever 229 in the can 230 receiving said five" pin, is depressed to raise pin 231, rock lever 232 and depress link 233 connected with trip 219. Depressing link 233 withdraws the trip from engagement with latch lever 214 allowing disc 189 to continue its rotation, this time together with disc 182, until the next succeeding stop lug 213a is engaged by catch 208 to stop disc 182. Because of its momentum as imparted particularly by the inertia of the tilted tubes, disc 189 continues to rotate until latch lever 214 is again caught by block 216. The tubular portion of the chute is positioned to be over a blank portion of the magazine when the latter is discharging its pins, as shown in Fig. 4. Any pin discharged into the chute will, therefore, come to rest on the top of plate 181 to be held until the magazine returns to its reloading position. The pin will then fall into one of the tubes as before described and the magazine will receive pins in successive tubes.

Pin spotting tray 1 11 Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5 show this component of the machine which is normally located directly beneath the magazine for receiving pins therefrom. Said tray is movable to a position above the deck 101 so that pins in said tray may be upwardly extracted by the pin setting rack 112 for subsequent placing of the pins on their proper spots on deck 101.

The tray comprises a frame 234 mounted on wheels 235 to travel on tracks 236 between its pin receiving position and its pin extracting position.

the unpivoted tubes 192 of the magazine, the mentioned can 230 for receiving a pin from tube 196 and cans 237, 238 and 239 for receiving pins from pivoted tubes 193, 194 and 195, respectively. Inasmuch as the pins falling into cans 230, 237, 238 and 239 are directed at an angle, each of said cans is formed with a chute-like portion 240 for suitably guiding pins falling into them. Ten cans comprise a full complement and their relative positions accord with the spot positions of pins on an alley deck.

The five pin falling from tube 196 into can 230 is arranged to have a slightly greater distance to fall than the remaining nine pins and it is for this reason that the mentioned trip lever 229 is arranged, in association with can 230, to actuate the trip 219.

The means provided for moving the tray along its tracks is shown best in Figs. 14 and 15. Said means comprises a hydraulic or other fluid cylinder 241 arranged for two-way operation, under control of a fourway valve 242, by fluid pressure supplied by a pump 243 driven by a motor 244 (Fig. l). The valve 242 is operated by solenoids 245 and 246. The latter is controlled by switch 247 (Fig. l) to shift valve 242 to cause pressure in cylinder 241 to actuate piston 248 and cause the.

tray to move from its loading to its pin extracting position. The switch 247 is positioned for operation by the setting rack 112.

A lever arm 249 on the valve 242 is associated with a control rod 250 having a stop collar 251 and carried by the tray frame 234. At the end of the mentioned movement of the tray, said collar 251 will engage lever arm The frame 234 mounts the mentioned cans 220 for receiving pins from 249 to move it and thus close valve 242. After the pins are extracted from the tray by the pin setting rack 112, the switch 247 closes the circuit to solenoid 245 shifting the valve 242 to cause fluid pressure in cylinder 241 to retract the tray. At the end of its latter movement, a stop collar 252, on control rod 250, acts to close valve 242.

Fig. 15 shows a trigger 253 mounted on the tray frame 234 to engage the switch lever 254 of a switch 255 mounted in a stationary position near the forward end of one of the tracks 236. When the tray moves into its pin delivering position, the trigger 253 engages switch lever 254 to close switch 255 which is normally open and control the operation of the pin setting rack 112 in synchrony with the forward delivery movement of the tray. The tray can overrun the switch lever 254 since, upon return movement of the tray, the trigger 253 can tilt past the now open or raised switch lever 254.

The mentioned cable 207 for winding the spring 198 is trained over suitable pulleys 263 and connected to the tray frame 234 at 234a so that said spring 198 is wound each time the tray move forward as above described.

The motor 244 is connected to drive the conveyor 108 by means of a worm and worm wheel drive 480 turning a shaft 481 having a pulley 482 which drives a belt 483 to drive shaft 177 by means of pulley 484. The shaft for the lower conveyor sprockets 172 has a pulley 485 driving a belt 486 and a pulley 487 for the pit conveyor 107.

From the above described embodiment of the invention, it will be seen that the pin sorting means 107 and the pin lifting conveyor 108, operate continually for the purpose of bringing pins to the magazine 110. The pin magazine is self-operated by dropping of pins into it but its energy is provided through the movement of the pin tray 111. The machine is designed to handle two sets or twenty pins, one set being in play While the other is being handled by the machine.

We claim:

1. A bowling pin assembling mechanism for receiving pins sequentially from a source and holding the pins in a predetermined pattern comprising, in combination, a supporting framework, a turret mounted for rotation about a generally vertical axis, a plurality of pin receiving buckets mounted on the turret, the buckets being arranged to have their upper pin receiving ends lie in a circular path which passes under the source of pins and at least some of the buckets being variably spaced from the remainder of the buckets, spring means for yieldably rotating the turret, a plurality of detents arranged around the turret, there being a detent associated with each bucket and the spacing between the detents corresponding to that between the buckets, a paddle member mounted on the framework and spring urged upwardly to a position to engage each of the detents sequentially as the turret is rotated, the free end of the paddle member extending under the bucket which is receiving a pin from the source so that entry of a pin into a bucket will depress the paddle member to release the detent and cause the spring means to rotate the turret until the paddle member engages the next detent, a pin receiving tray disposed beneath the turret for receiving pins from the turret, means mounting the tray for generally horizontal movement, and means responsive to horizontal movement of the tray for tensioning said spring means.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, in which the turret? has a bottom plate provided with openings normally offset from the bottoms of the pin receiving buckets, and having means responsive to rotation of the turret on entry of a tenth pin into the turret to cause relative movement between the bottom plate and the buckets to align the openings in the bottom plate with the bottoms of the buckets, and means responsive to the relative movement for tilting certain of said buckets to an inclined position.

3. A bowling pin assembling mechanism for receiving pins sequentially from a source and holding the pins in a predetermined pattern comprising, in combination, a supporting framework, a turret mounted on the framework for rotation about a generally vertical axis, a plurality of pin receiving members mounted on the turret, the pin receiving members being arranged to have their upper pin receiving ends lie in a generally circular path which passes adjacent the source of pins, means for rotating the turret including trip means operable by each pin as it is positioned in a pin receiving member to index the turret, a pin supporting element associated with the turret having spaced apart areas for supporting the bottoms of pins in the buckets and having openings between the pin supporting areas normally off-set from the bottoms of the pin receiving members, latch means positively locking the pin supporting element for rotation with the turret with the openings in the pin supporting element in the normally off-set relationship to the pin receiving members, means for releasing the latch means after the entry of the final pin into the turret to permit relative movement between the pin supporting element and the turret to align the openings in the pin supporting element with the bottoms of the pin receiving members, means mounting certain of said pin receiving members fixedly on said turret, means mounting the other pin receiving members on said turret for tilting movement, and means responsive to relative movement between the pin supporting element and the turret for tilting the tiltable pin receiving members to inclined positions.

4. A pin assembly mechanism for receiving pins from a source and storing the pins in a predetermined arrangement prior to discharge for resetting on an alley bed, comprising, in combination, a supporting frame, an indexable turret mounted on the frame for rotation about an upwardly extending axis, a plurality of pin receiving pockets on the turret of which some are variably spaced from the others so as to require variable rotation of the turret to successively place succeeding pockets under said source, means for indexing said turret by variable increments including a constantly active yieldable drive means and a releasable stop means, operable to alternately stop the turret with successive pockets positioned under said source and release the turret for rotation on receipt of successive pins, said yieldable drive means comprising, a coiled spring having one end connected to said turret, a spring winding element connected to the other end of the spring and mounted for rotation on said frame in the direction of turret rotation, means for rotating said winding element through at least one complete revolution to wind said spring sutficiently to effect at least one complete rotation of said turret, and means to prevent reverse rotation of said winding element after said spring is wound.

5. The combination as defined in claim 4, wherein the means for rotating said winding element comprises a winding pulley rotatable on said frame in the direction of rotation of said winding element, means on the winding pulley engageable with said winding element to drive the latter through at least a complete revolution, and releasable from the winding element for return to a starting position, and a coiled spring having one end connected to said Winding pulley and the other end fixed on said frame for returning the winding pulley to its starting position after winding said turret driving spring.

6. In a pin setting machine, mechanical pin gathering means including a rotatable magazine having a plurality of pin receiving tubes arranged about the axis of rotation of the magazine, means mounting certain of said tubes stationarily on said magazine, means mounting the other tubes on the magazine for pivotal movement, means for indexing the magazine to successively position the tubes to receive pins from a source, mean for retaining the pins in the tubes, means for actuating the retaining means to release the pins, and mechanical linkage means interconnecting said retaining means and said pivotal tubes for effecting pivotal movement of the tubes simultaneously with release of the pins to effect dropping of said pins from the magazine in a pattern differing from their arrangement in the magazine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 975,445 McFarland Nov. 15, 1910 

